Night is Darkest before the Dawn
by Anna Kruczynski
Summary: Shenko because, well you know, all the feels. Post EC DLC, so yes, spoilers.
1. Night is Darkest before the Dawn

"Kaidan?"

The Major stumbled into the cargo hold, leaning heavily on Garrus as the door slowly closed between him and the Commander, blood pouring out through several holes in his Armour, along with the last remaining pieces of his heart.

He had looked her in the eyes until she was gone, the woman he had followed to hell and back, until now, because she ordered him to leave and because Garrus' had one hell of a grip.

_Shepard._

_Go, get out of here. That's an order._

His mind was spinning out of control as Garrus sat him down on a crate of ammunition.

Her face, the chaos.

_Don't leave me behind._

She had smiled at him the last few seconds before the door came between them. Smiled at him, while the beam to the Citadel lit London up like a Christmas tree.

It had not been a happy smile, but there was a hint of gratefulness in it. He probably would have felt the same if he had been on her side of the fight, if it had been her aboard the Normandy, safe and sound instead of being alone in the ditches, grasping at straws, trying to make everything right again.

All this time he had believed she would, make things right, even now, when everything was falling apart. Shepard had that effect on people. Off course he'd seen the cracks in her defenses after things went south on Thessia. He had noticed the wear and tear, her own disbelief, but this was Commander Shepard, she already died once and that didn't slow her down.

She was a force of nature.

_No matter what happens, know that I will love you, always._

It had sounded so natural when the words left her mouth in front of the crew instead of being whispered in the dark at her cabin. _Their_ cabin.

Always.

In spite of their best efforts, Kaidan sincerely doubted the crew wasn't aware of what was going on between the two of them, what had been going on ever since they had set foot on Eden Prime all those years back. It was not like they hadn't noticed the way her eyes always seemed to rest on him when she was deep in thought, or the way his lips curved up whenever she walked into the room. He had loved her since the moment they'd met and he would be doing so until he drew his last breath.,

Kaidan's confession had reached the ears of every crew member on the Normandy as his voice made its way to the bridge over their comm system.

_I love you too._

The gravity of the situation had been weighing heavily on his shoulders and for the first time in his life, Kaidan had not held back. This was the last time he would be able to tell her how he felt about her and they both knew it. They knew the score.,

_I can't lose you again._

"Kaidan?" Liara repeated, her voice hesitantly pulling him back to the present, to the immense headache his implant was causing, to the hole Shepard's departure had left in his heart.

"She's still out there Liara," he said, his words dying under the sound of soldiers running around, fire extinguishers going off and the wailing of the alarm that indicated a code red.

"I know, and you bleeding out on the cargo hold floor won't help getting her back."

She was right, off course she was right. Kaidan gave in with a sigh, promising himself that it was just a momentarily defeat. The war wasn't over. He would get out of there and look for her as soon as Chakwas had patched him up. He was no good to her dead. He was no good to any of them dead.

"It's just a scratch Liara."

"You're barely able to stay on your feet."

He wasn't the only one having trouble keeping it together. Garrus had been there as well the entire time, his shooting impressive as always, his tongue sharp as a knife, relieving some of the tension in between fights.

"Are you alright?"

"Pissed off as hell," the Turian replied.

Kaidan applied the last of his medigel through his omni tool. At least most of the pain was bearable now.

"I don't think slapping medigel on it is gonna cut it this time Kaidan," Garrus said, Liara already scanning his injuries, assessing the severity of his blood loss.

"I just…"

Kaidans eyebrows pulled together in a frown. He looked like a broken man. Losing Shepard once had been bad enough, the thought of losing her again would certainly kill him.

"I know."

Garrus looked as bad as he did. His suit was partially burned by the explosion of the Mako that almost collapsed on top of them, his face looked grim and filled with regret. Shepard had been as much his friend as she had been Kaidan's lover. She had been something to all of them and the ship felt like an empty shell without her to command it.

"You should let doctor Chakwas take a look at your implant…" Liara pleaded, this time with the desired effect. The major let his head hang down, sighed and turned away from the door.

"I will, I promise."

He breathed in deeply but could not feel the air filling his lungs, it was like someone was choking him.

He had to pull himself together, for her sake, for all their sakes.

"We have to give her a fighting chance," he said and disappeared into the elevator.

"Joker?"

"Yes Sir?"

"Make sure Harbinger knows we're here."

"Aye aye Sir!"

Kaidan took a deep breath and exhaled slowly as the main cannon started bursting when he reached the CIC. Harbinger was going to wake up with one hell of a headache tomorrow, or preferably, not wake up at all.

He took his place at the Starmap, overlooking the crew running around, sweat on their brows, tapping on data pads, making calculations.

This was his crew now, until she came home, their lives were his responsibility.

"EDI?"

"Yes Major?"

"Hit that thing with everything we got."

He leaned on the rail overlooking the Starmap, barely able to stand. It was strange being here, standing on her spot, saying the things that were supposed to be coming from her lips, but he was her first officer and there was no way on hell she was leaving him behind. Not this time.


	2. Oily Shadows in the Night

**N/A** Well alright then. More Kaidan.

* * *

The first piece of information they received over their fixed comm system contained only a few words but was a devastating blow to the crew's morale.

___Anderson didn't make it._

His friends had assembled around him in what was left of the war room and Kaidan had a hard time coming up with the words that were on every one's lips.

When they finally did come out, they sounded raspy and more emotional than he had liked in the company of other people. Three weeks in the jungle of some godforsaken planet and he was already losing his mind.

"And – Shepard?"

They collectively held their breath, the image of Kaidan refusing to put her name up on the memorial still fresh in their minds. They had hope back than, but hope was deteriorating fast with every minute they spend not having the ship fully operational.

They were working around the clock to make the Normandy fly again, especially the team down in engineering. They had kick-started the drive core once, but it had only been functional for a couple of seconds before it died out again.

"We…been…to…locate…Major."

"God damn it," he snapped, banging his fist on the table, surprising even himself with the sudden outburst.

"Tali, would you please fix that god damn static?"

He leaned on his hands, watching the Quarian punch in numbers on her repaired omni tool. It was warm and moist inside the ship, just like it was outside, and sweat was gathering on his brow. Most of their systems were still offline and they were all tense. Even Garrus was showing signs off stress.

"There, this should do the trick."

The static disappeared and the words broadcast from the other side of the universe were loud and clear.

"We haven't been able to locate her yet Major."

___Which wasn't quite the same as 'she died.'_

He felt some sort of relieve was over him when the woman on the other side stopped talking. There was nothing to kill the hope he had been harbouring over the last few weeks. Not a single word.

"Thank you," he managed, rubbing the back of his neck.

"Stay strong Normandy," the voice said, and than the connection was lost again.

* * *

"Do you ever sleep Kaidan?"

Garrus walked into the mess hall in nothing more than his pants, his eyes half asleep but his mind wide awake. The hour was ungodly.

Kaidan was sitting behind a bottle of whiskey and by the looks of it, he had been sitting there for a while.

"I…"

___Will sleep when I'm dead._

"I guess I am a little restless," Kaidan replied.

"She's not dead yet Kaidan," Garrus said as he poured the Major another drink.

"She might be," he mumbled, "she might be dead and we just don't know it yet."

"You don't believe that son."

Kaidan downed another drink. A lot had changed over the last couple of days. His faith was starting to deteriorate, the cracks in his defences started showing. He had held it together this far, only snapping once in the company of his crew. Her crew. Shit. .

"I keep seeing her face in my dreams Garrus."

The Turian took a chair and sat down next to him.

"When my mother died," Garrus sighed, "she told me that as long as I could remember her face she wasn't really dead. We only die when people stop thinking about us Kaidan."

"I think I need another drink."

"I think you had quite enough friend."

Kaidan gulped down the last of his drink and rubbed his temples. The migraines were getting worse as well. They were bearable when Shepard was around. She would take him in her arms and would massage him until the pain subsided.

"What if she's dead Garrus? I mean, what if she…"

"This is Shepard we're talking about Major. She already died once and that didn't slow her down."

He smiled. It was not much of a smile, but it was still a smile. The Turian was right, the woman had nine lives. She would probably outlive them all.


	3. Grasping at Straws

"That wont happen. Go get her Commander. I see you all when I get back."

She watched him die in the fire, flames licking at his face as she tried reaching him through the forest of oily shadows.

_Kaidan._

She woke up with a quick breath, her lungs filling themselves with smoke and ashes. It took her a little while to realise the fire in her dream had not been real. Kaidan was alive.

_The look in his eyes when she forced him to abandon her._

She slowly opened her eyes but the world was as black as it was with her eyes closed. She remembered the beam, coming up for air, the explosion caused by the fire of her gun.

Was it over? Had they done it?

"Ander...son? Ad...miral...?"

The sound of her own voice alarmed her. It was squeecky and not nearly loud enough to reach beyond the black rubble that surrounded her. Concrete, smoke, death.

Whatever was left of her suit was keeping her alive, she could feel the insertion of medigel underneath her skin, slowly and with little gasps.

Was this it? Would she die here, in the dark, without him?

Shepard felt her left eye get moist, the tear tumbling down her cheek burning a path into her skin.

She tried raising her right arm, to get to her omni tool. If her suit was still functioning a little, maybe her comm systems would too.

It cost her every little bit of energy she had left in her bruised body to raise her arm, only to find that her right hand was missing and the omni tool was gone.

Her body started shocking as her cry came out like that of a wounded animal, it sounded primal, broken, her swan song.

And then she was gone.

* * *

The sun.

The headlight of a car.

A flashlight.

"This one is still alive!"

The world was getting louder. The sound of metal on stone. Muffled voices. Dogtags being slightly jerked to the right. A deep breath. She had to stop them. She had to break the cycle.

_Kaidan._

* * *

"Try to breath, Commander."

Her head hurt, her arm hurt, her hand was gone.

It felt like half her armour had attached itself to her skin, she couldn't even feel the burns anymore on half her body. She knew they were there though, her skin tourched, gone.

This felt so much worse than dying. And she could know, she already done it once.

The world spun by as she got adjusted to the breathing mask over her mouth. She was on her back and watched the ceiling as four men hurried to get her through the debris field.

She thought she recognised the presidium, but everything was blackened by smoke, crumbled.

"Try to relax Commander, they have given you something for the pain."

She moved her breathing mask to the side, very slowly, clumsily with her left hand.

"Bailey..."

He smiled down at her as they got into an elevator.

"You damn well better get back on your feet again Shepard. I am holding you personally accountable for the destruction of my office."

She tried to smile.

"I will...help you pick out new curtains...I promise."

She felt his hand squeeze hers just before her eyes closed again.

Everything would be allright now.

* * *

Shepard touched the fingers that weren't hers, the artificial nails. They had done the best they could for her, probably more than for many others. With the destruction of the Reapers, their technology got destroyed as well.

A lot was getting rebuild already, but some things would be lost forever.

She watched the lights at the various monitors in the room, there was not much else for her to do. She had only regained consciounceness two days ago, being kept in an artificial coma when they worked on her.

The nurse forgot to knock.

"I'm sorry for disturbing you Commander, but you told us to inform you if any news would come to our attention regarding the Normandy."

Shepard slowly raised herself against her pillow. This had better be good. She didn't know what she would do if this was not good.

"They docked half an hour ago Ma'am. Major Alenko is on his way now."

Her heart, the monitor indicated a slight increase in its beats. Her palm instantly got sweaty. The relieve that washed over her almost knocked her off the bed.

"I – _thank you_..."

She waited with crying until the nurse had left.

Kaidan was coming for her.

He had been flying halfway across the universe to find her and now he was finally coming home.

Home. Earth. Vancouver.

It would be one hell of a reunion party.


	4. Kickstarting the Drive Core

Kaidan's heart had relocated from his chest to his throat during the trip to the hospital, he was sure of it. He had asked the shuttle driver to drop him off a block away from the hospital. He needed some air before going in there, the weight of the situation pressing down hard on the Major's shoulders.

Winter had reached Vancouver but they still hadn't seen first snow, the streets were wet of the rain that had been falling all night.

Somehow she'd been out there where it had all begun, dug up from underneath the rubble by commander Bailey at the Citadel first before being returned to Vancouver, where she'd been when the Reapers rolled in.

His thoughts kept going back to her, to Shepard, all alone in that hospital bed. They hadn't told him much but he was warned that the commander had suffered a great deal and had undergone a couple of major surgeries. She was still a bit out of it because of the strong pain killers they were administering, but she was responsive to the nurses in the room and she had definitely taken the news of his coming arrival in.

He wasn't sure if he himself had taken in the fact that he was going to see her within the next ten minutes. He had dreamed of it ever since the Normandy crashed on the jungle planet, hoped for it and now that the day had finally arrived, he didn't know what to do with himself. She was lucid. Or so the doctors had told him. She hadn't suffered any major brain damage and she had asked for him as soon as she had first opened her eyes. And still Kaidan couldn't help but to worry and he would probably do so until he held her in his arms again, if they'd let him. The last time he had talked to one of her doctors she was still under tight surveillance because of the burns she had sustained when the Citadel exploded from underneath her.

He took a deep breath when he entered the hospital. The reception room was swamped with visitors, all waiting for news about their loved ones.

He remembered the faces of the missing at the docking bay at the Citadel. Human, Asari, Turian, Drell. Their eyes staring at you from all corners of the wall. The ones on the hospital wall here were mostly human.

He took a seat while the nurse behind the desk filled in some paperwork.

He had never been in a waiting room this silent. The people were there but no one talked. They all just sat there, staring at the floor, waiting for absolution that probably never came for most of them. They had all lost so much. He too had lost a lot. Old friends, students, family members. The more news he received, the less he wanted to hear. Reports coming in from good servicemen who had disappeared into the nothingness this war had been. His own father still MIA.

And in the midst of it all, in the middle of all this pain and suffering, she had come back, like a phoenix rising from the ashes and he had been as terrified of it as he was ecstatic. She had risen from the dead again and he would never let her out of his sight again.

"Kaidan Alenko?"

He looked up from the hat in his hand and rose to his feet the minute he noticed the nurse with the clipboard.

"Mister Alenko, I gathered you're here to see commander Shepard?"

"That is correct Ma'am."

"Would you be so kind as to follow me sir?"

Kaidan got up, dusted of the hat in his hand and followed the nurse with the clipboard.

"We're rather swamped at the moment," she apologised as Kaidan looked around. The waiting room hadn't been the only room filled with people. The corridors were filled with extra beds on both sides. He watched doctors rush through the people with a kind of adjusted pace.

"Do you have the supplies you need?" he asked, falling back into the Major part he had been playing for so long now.

"We're a little low on everything," the nurse answered, "but I am amazed about the resourcefulness on people. It could be a lot worse. I hear the Turians took a beating comparable to ours."

"The Turians, the Asari, the Krogan," he replied, "every space faring species out there."

He sighed, the memories of dying planets still fresh in his mind.

They remained silent as they made their ways through the crowded hallways and into a more silent part of the hospital.

"We're almost there," the nurse said.

Kaidan felt his palms get sweaty the minute she finished her sentence. It was like the world was slowly coming to a halt, like he had to put in all of his strength in those last few steps toward her room.

He had played this moment in his mind every night before he finally fell asleep, exhausted, emotionally drained and now that it was here he did not know what do to with it.

"It's the second door on your right Sir."

He thanked the nurse and watched her leave.

He was on his own now.

Kaidan took a deep breath, placed his hand on the door and watched it open.

She was unresponsive, laying with her back toward him and her face directed to the massive window that granted her access to the outside world, to the city he had grown up in.

He approached the bed very slowly, careful not to wake her.

He swallowed hard when she came into view, the sounds of the beeping monitors sounding as sweet as one of Debussy's piano pieces. She really was alive, the monitors acknowledged it.

He walked around the bed so that he could get a good look at her face.

It was still there.

He smiled at the thought.

She had gained a scar at her lip, going all the way up to her brow, but she looked as beautiful as she had always done, with a little extra bits and pieces.

He looked at the arm she was sleeping on, the hand had been replaced by a synthetic one. It was one of the things she had to get used to when she got of here.

Kaidan smiled as he watched her sleep.

She looked so small in the bed, so fragile.

He wondered if this was like what Shepard had felt when she came to visit him after Mars. Seeing him unconscious in the bed like he was seeing her sleep in the bed right now.

He was crying by the time she opened her eyes.

"Hey there Kaidan," she half whispered, her throat dry, soar.

He couldn't, for the life of him, get a reply out, so he just placed a hand on the back of her head as he looked into her eyes.

"You know how much I hate it when you watch me sleep," she smiled.

Her voice was so soft, coming out in small bursts.

He worked up the strength to give her a smile, the lopsided one.

"I know," he whispered as he kissed her forehead, "but I somehow expected to get away with it this time."

She slowly placed the hand containing her IV on his arm.

"You took your sweet time getting here," she smiled.

"We had to kick start the drive core," he replied, "the Normandy's a bitchy lady you know."

"I know," she said, "she takes after her mom."

She coughed, her face containing a mixture of pain and frustration.

"I saw you on the vids," she continued, "all of you, when you docked. The press jumping at you like a seeker swarm. Seeing your face all over the screen, I – I don't know."

"You're not alone Shepard, you have never been alone."

She started crying as her hand made its way up his arm and reached his.

"No matter how many times you leave me behind, I will find you. Always."

She used her free hand, the synthetic one, to trace the lines of his face.

"Promise me," she whispered, slowly bringing his face towards hers.

"I promise," he replied, just before their lips met.

The world had finally come to a halt.


	5. First Snow

**N/A **_** I'm going to jump in time a little, bear with me.**_

Her head hurt and her legs were still unable to support her weight buy she was alive and that was more than she had hoped for when she had stormed the beam a couple of weeks ago.

Shepard's wheelchair was positioned in front of the big window in her room. She was sitting there every morning since she was able to get out of bed with a little help of the nurses.

"Hey Shepard."

Her face lit up as soon as Kaidan walked into the room with two cups of coffee in his hand and the largest smile on his face.

"You don't have to..." she whispered.

"But I want to," he said, kissing her hair and ending the debate.

"It's only two blocks away from the Alliance Headquarters anyway."

He used to bring her coffee on the Normandy, a cup when she woke up, a cup when she had to work late. He would continue bringing her coffee every morning until they were both back on the ship they loved so much, until they were both _home_.

They watched the world come alive in silence as they both drank their coffee. It was winter in Vancouver, but the streets were filling themselves with people going to work.

"There is snow in the air," Shepard mused, steam coming from her cup, her left eye filling with moist she had no control over.

Kaidan wiped her eye dry with his sleeve.

"I hope they'll fix that," she said, placing her hand on his.

"And that as well."

She nodded in the direction of her right arm, a mechanical hand where her flesh used to be.

"I'm half – robot."

"You're gorgeous," he said, taking the mechanical hand in his and folding their fingers together.

"Are you flirting with me _Major_?"

Shepard smiled, the curves of her mouth slowly lifting up. The physical effort it took her to just smile... everything was so tiring.

"You should rest Shepard," Kaidan said, getting up to put her back to bed.

"Kaidan look..."

He turned around to face the window again.

"First snow."

He leaned against his arm as they watched the snow grow more fierce.

"I guess you never saw much show, growing up on ships I mean."

"Noveria was the first time," she said, "Alchera the last."

He sighed. He hadn't been there when she visited the crash site. He hadn't backed her like Garrus and Tali had, like Chakwas and Joker had. He had been too busy riding his high horse, accusing her of all kinds of things she had no part in. He would never make that same mistake again.

She tried raising herself from the wheelchair several times, but failed. She didn't like it when he helped her, so he waited patiently for her to achieve things on her own. He was the only one she allowed to come near her when she was at her weakest, and he had taking over some of the nurses' duties. He bathed her and cleaned her sheets when she wasn't able to hold her food.

"Don't look at me," she gasped as she raised herself one last time.

He instinctively reached out an arm to help.

"Don't look at me."

Her tone was harsh, frustrated, angry. He watched her bite her lip, tears falling down from her left eye only. It was hard seeing her like that, but underneath it all, the same woman was trying to fight her way through this, the same fire was burning inside of her.

"_Shepard_..."

"Don't Shepard me," she cried, "don't god damn Shepard me."

She finally stood, leaning heavily against the window, her ragged breath creating patterns on the cold glass.

Kaidan didn't dare to move. He wanted to pick her up, tell her everything was going to be fine, but Shepard had never been big on platitudes.

"I'm sorry," she gasped, still not ready to release her hold on the window, afraid that she might fall and die of embarrassment.

"I am so sorry Kaidan."

He closed in, took her in his arms and kissed her hair. She leaned into him and he supported her full weight, which wasn't all that much, especially when she wasn't wearing her heavy armour.

"You have nothing to apologize for Shepard."

She buried her head against his chest, his alliance uniform contrasting her hospital dress.

"I love you," he whispered, "I will always love you."

She let out a heavy sigh, as if she had been waiting for these words, this confirmation.

"Until the end of time," she replied.

She listened to the beating of his heart for a while, the steady rhythm of it seemed to calm her down a little. He was alright, they both were.

He brushed some hair out of her face. She had gained a couple of new scars, one of them near her left eye. He traced it with his index finger.

"It's almost as bad ass as the one Garrus has," she smiled, "but don't tell him I said that. That's an order."

"Aye aye Ma'am."

He kissed her, briefly, but just enough to notice her breathing exhilarate.

"I think you should help me get back into my chair," she smiled, it was a wicked smile, the old Shepard shining through for a minute there before her face got strained again as she tried getting back to her wheelchair.

"We don't want to blow up the heart monitor."

"Now _that_ would be pretty damn spectacular."

She faced the window again. Snow was falling down heavily and they watched it cover the earth in silence, Shepard in her wheelchair and Kaidan on her bed.

There was so much he wanted to tell her, so much that needed to be said, but he kept his mouth shut and watched her watch the snow. The expression on her face resembling that of a child on Christmas eve.


	6. Rainbows and Violins

He watched the wind in her hair, strands of strawberry blond flying off in different directions. She seemed at peace, her synthetic hand resting on the rail in front of her. The nurses told him she came up here a lot, dragging her IV behind her, enjoying the cool wind coming from the coast.

He could only imagine what went on in her head that moment just before she turned it in his direction.

"Hey Kaidan."

The smile on her face was heartbreaking.

"Hey."

"Didn't notice you there."

"I know. You ah, you sneaked out on the nurses," he said, slowly stroking her cheek with the back of his hand, trying not to touch the stitches on her face.

He swallowed when he felt her cold skin underneath his fingers, her left eye still tearing uncontrollably while she tried so desperately to ignore it.

"A woman deserves her little secrets."

He kissed her on the forehead and mumbled a little 'no doubt' when his lips touched her skin.

They stood side by side for a long while, both of them silent and listening to the sounds of the city around them. The sounds of what was left of the city.

"It's quiet," she said.

"Sure is."

He watched her shiver as a gust of wind tore her apart.

"Here," he whispered, taking off his own jacket and draping it around her shoulders "you're freezing."

She allowed him to finish his little gesture without interruption.

"I'll be damned," he smiled, "I think this might be the first time since…well…ever, that you let me take care of you."

"What can I say," she shrugged, "there's a first time for everything."

He met her smile with his own. It was crazy how frequently the corners of his mouth raised up when he saw her. They never had been in a situation like this, the absence of lingering doom hovering over both their heads, regs biting them in their arses. These were things of the past now. They could finally enjoy themselves in each other's company now and Kaidan was enjoying every second they spend together in public.

Shepard on the other hand had a hard time adjusting to civil life. The military was in her blood, her crew was like her family. Kaidan had felt the kinship as well, but in the end, the only family he needed was standing right beside him and to him she looked as gorgeous as she'd always had.

Sure, the war had left its mark on her, both physically and mentally. She was more quiet than before and sometimes she would disappear to a place where Kaidan could not follow, waking up with wide eyes, drops of sweat glistening on her forehead and the names of the dead on her lips. He took comfort in the fact that she always seemed to calm right down when she noticed he was in the room, watching over her while she slept, watching over her while she regained some of her old self.

"Kaidan look," she said, pointing at the office building opposite of the hospital.

"There's a lady in there who brings the man in the cubicle on the far left his lunch every day."

Kaidan tried following her gaze. It was stuck on the fifth floor.

"He should totally ask her out."

He smiled, in spite of himself.

"Totally."

"And look, two floors above them." She turned toward Kaidan to check if he was seeing what she was seeing, her eyes curious like those of a new born baby after all that they had seen.

"She always sits on his desk like that. They should court martial her for wearing a dress like that."

He crossed his arms in amusement when she stopped talking.

"Well in a sense it is your fault Shepard."

She turned toward Kaidan again with a pondering expression on her face.

"If you hadn't been there to stop the Reapers 'miss long legs' over there would be six feet under instead of prancing around in that skimpy dress."

"Well if you put it that way."

"These people are still here, living their lives as if nothing happened because you were here when it mattered most."

"You make me sound like a saint Kaidan."

He took a last step in her direction and wrapped his arms around her.

"I know you're not a saint Shepard."

The wicked grin on his face made her want to reach out and touch him.

"I'm not?"

"Not even close."

She traced the line of his jaw with her finger as a lopsided grin graced her face.

"So tell me then Major, what exactly am I?"

"That depends…"

"On what?"

"On your answer to my question."

She watched him dig in the pocket of the coat around her shoulders.

"Shepard," he said, opening the little jewellery box in his hand.

Shepard covered her mouth with her hand as she watched Kaidan drop to his knees, tears welling up in her eyes as she closed the distance between them.

"Would you marry me?"


End file.
